Sunday before Christmas.....

I've always wanted to see The Nutcracker. I asked hubby if he wanted to go. Nope. I figured the kids would not, especially the girl who wanted to get a last ride in for the year. So, I bought one ticket to a local production and went yesterday afternoon. It was a really neat performance, and I enjoyed it. I will make sure to go next year as well and maybe drag a kid or two. The girl Emily rides with expressed interest, so I said I'd take her next year too! 

I took Emily to her Winter Guard Christmas party at the guard director's house. She is a teacher at the school (has Aidan in her Psychology class) but is quite young. 24 maybe? A 2 hour party and we live 30 minutes away, so I went too. I chatted with another parent and the kids all had a great time with food and party games. Boy, was it loud during the games! There are 20 kids in the guard and most were able to attend.

Today, Emily and I will be going to see the movie Wicked in the theater. I need to do a little shopping as well, since I am now making dinner for Christmas and my FIL is coming over. I asked what he would like, and he said ham, sweet potato casserole and taco salad. So, I'm making a meal instead of appetizers this year. My MIL will come over as well. I'm surprised he agreed to come over. Greg will drive over and pick him up and then we'll return him home when he wants, probably after the meal. He is 89 and lives about 45 minutes away from us. I noticed Prime Rib is on sale this week so I might get one of those as well. The kids and I will be flying out on the 26th to Vermont to visit with my parents and family for a week. Greg will stay home and animal sit. Fingers crossed the roads are not too slippery while I am up there. It has been a while since I have done winter driving.

That leads to thinking what is small and can fit in my carry on with winter clothes. We are only there for a week, so just did a personal item and carry on for each of us on a direct flight to Plattsburgh, NY. I've got a rental car and will take the ferry across Lake Champlain and then will head to my parents' house to stay. As my kids say 'I reserved 3 rooms in the house for that week!'.  Emily is getting a ball of yarn and plans to make a hat in route. We will see how that goes. I've never made a hat so it will be interesting. She might be getting a wobble for Christmas too! MSQC had them half off so I added one to my bundle in November.

For me.... I have yet to start the pretty snowflake embroidery from my MSQC advent box, so I think that will go with me. 

Today's gift of embroidering on felt for a glasses case and book page holders.

 The felt birds from last years box. All are small and should be able to travel well. 

I did pull out my half done cross stitch I started in 1999 or 2000! I counted wrong on the hoop area somewhere lower right. I watched some 'how to fix' videos this week and once I find the error again, I will decide how to fix it (pull out or stitch over with the correct thread) and maybe get that piece moving again. I did 2 from the book, August month in 1998 and September in 1999. I think they took me a good 6 months each and that is all I worked on. The eyes were much better then, so the readers will be going with me!

This is January.

I also have 4 of these blocks kinda prepped. I need to find the peel and tuck it in with a pencil. The background and peels are cut for 3.5 blocks. Light pink, dark pink, light blue and dark blue. Small baggie so these could travel as well for needle turned applique.

Today, I'll be stitching a few QAYG hexagons and prepping more to add another column to my existing quilt to make it bigger. I have one column ready to add and need another 12 sets of 4 for the next one. Since the main quilt has been washed multiple times and is 'smaller', I will stitch all the columns I plan to add together first, wash a few times to see if they shrink like the main quilt and then will add them on.

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers. I posted a recap of the year yesterday. It is a great feeling to look back over the year and realize you did accomplish something in little bits of time here and there!